NYPD Charge Unarmed Man With Making Them Shoot Bystanders

Glenn Broadnax, 35, has been charged with assault after bullets the NYPD meant for him struck two innocent bystanders, reports the New York Times.

The unarmed, emotionally disturbed Brooklyn man was weaving recklessly through traffic near Times Square when police told him to halt. Broadnax allegedly reached for his pocket, prompting the officers to shoot, and the bullets struck two women standing nearby.

Broadnax was eventually knocked to the ground with a Taser and arrested.

Though Broadnax was initially charged with menacing, drug possession and resisting arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed to charge him with assault, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years, claiming that Broadnax “recklessly engaged in conduct which created a grave risk of death.”

“The defendant is the one that created the situation that injured innocent bystanders,” said an assistant district attorney, Shannon Lucey.